Ail0ng the most significant and, at the time, trou- bling things I learned in my freshman year was that lUch of which I had assumed to be black or whitereally was gray. I grew up in a home where, when wefinally had a television, it was black and white, and my par-ents always reassured my brothers and me that the charac-ters wearing the white hats were good and the ones inblack hats were bad. Carolina taught me that people, issuesand events usually are much more complicated than that.An issue vital to Carolina's future that too often is pre-sented as simple is that of when and by how muchto raise undergraduate tuition.Article IX, Section9 of the N.C. Constitution reads as follows:"The General Assembly shall provide that thebenefits of The University of North Carolina andother public institutions of higher education, asfar as practicable, be extended to the people of theState free ojexpmse. " (That's the wording, withemphasis added, from the N.c. Constitution asamended in 1971; similar language first appearedin the state constitution enacted in 1868.)Carolina's undergraduate tuition for North Carolina resi-dents, presendy $2,328, always has been among the lowestin the country. It remains so today despite an increase of$1,506, or 183 percent, over the past decade.Among the questions that continue to be debated are:• Is the constitutional mandate being violated?• Does higher tuition deny access to Carolina or dis-courage some from applying?• What is the proper balance in sources offunding tomaintain and enhance Carolina's excellence?Clearly, over many generations North Carolinians asreflected through the General Assembly have generouslyfunded higher education. Many believe that this public sup-port not only is because of the pride North Carolinianshave for our campus but also their sense that a world-classeducation remains within reach for all North Carolinians.Yet, we also know that, as are other states, North Car-olina is devoting a declining percentage of the state budgetto higher education - down to 12. 9 percent in 2000 from17. 4 percent in 1986. Today, 29 percent of our campusbudget comes from state appropriations; 15 years ago, thatpercentage was 43 percent.The increases in campus-initiated tuition in recent yearshave come with a conmutment to set aside a substantialportion of the revenues generated for financial aid, andCarolina continues to meet the financial aid needs of allNorth Carolina undergraduate students. Further, severalstudies show that those institutions that do the best job inpreserving access to needy students are those that couplehigh tuition with generous packages for financial aid.Today's tuition at Carolina is 2. 8 percent of the NorthCarolina median fanlliy income, estimated to be $60,656.Too often, there is an unwillingness to acknowledge thatstudents are ill-served if the quality of their educationalexperience is dinunished because of under funding. Someare concerned by Carolina's reported decline in Us. News& World Report's annual rankings from ninth to 28th in thepast 15 years. Many are particularly alarmed that US. Newsranks Carolina 72nd in faculty resources. And with antici-pated retirements, Carolina will need to replace one-thirdto halfof our faculty in the coming decade.Understandably, alumni want to see the value of Car-olina diplomas continue to appreciate in value, and we havedemonstrated a willingness to contribute generously to sup-port Carolina. However, alumni expect our gifts to providethe margin ofexcellence and do not envision our financialcontributions merely replacing state appropriations.Had the University not had available the revenues fi·oma $300-per-student campus-based tuition increase, whichgenerated a pool of roughly $7 million, each UNC facuJtymember wouJd have received a salary increase this yeartotaling only $625 - as did all other state employees.Some argue that it is unfair for North Carolina tax pay-ers to support Carolina students whose parents easily couldcontribute much more toward their education; others arguethat all North Carolinians benefit from a better-educatedwork force. The bottom line is that none of us is in thehabit ofasking to pay full price on an item that is on sale.For North Carolinians, a UNC education has been a bar-gain for generations, and it is likely that Carolina's in-statetuition will remain a bargain. How do we address our desireto be faithful to the constitutional mandate for low tuition,the need to retain and recruit top faculty who will ensureCarolina's excellence, a declining portion of the state budgetappropriated to higher education, an expectation that pri-vate gifts won't simply replace what shouJd be legislativesupport, and a conmutment to ensure that Carolina isaccessible to all who earn admission, regardless of theirfinancial circumstances?No, tuition is not a black-and-white issue, and the con-sequences of tuition increases are important for us all.Yours at Carolina,Douglas S. Dibbert ' 70dou~dibbert@unc.edu